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Convictions of rape, multiple murders must be reversed The blunder of a San Diego judge in 1989 in countermanding the ruling of another judge in the absence of any new law, facts, or circumstances resulted yesterday in the California Supreme Court unanimously overturning the conviction of a man for three first-degree murders, rape, and other felonies committed during a 1985-86 crime spree. The infeasibility of re-trying Billy Ray Waldon, 71, for offenses perpetrated as long...
Firemen were working the scene of an accident at Euclid and Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica Thursday afternoon. A blue sedan somehow flipped on its side, with a driver needing to be freed from the vehicle. "Traffic accident – non-injury involving 2 cars at Euclid and Wilshire at about 3:15 PM. One vehicle rolled over on it’s side. Report taken by SMPD," wrote Lt. Rudy Flores....
A female Santa Monica resident was sexually assaulted by a male while walking back from the beach in the afternoon of January 10. The victim was walking up the steps from the Arizona Avenue bridge over PCH, toward Palisades Park when a young male reached between her legs from behind and slid his hand over her crotch. The victim immediately called Santa Monica police. The officers arrived within ten minutes, arrested the man, and offered to the woman a referral guide for...
A 27 year old homeless man was arrested for burglarizing a guesthouse behind a home in the 500 block of Marguerite Avenue, Santa Monica Police Lt. Rudy Flores wrote the following press release: On January 17, 2023, at approximately 8:33 PM, Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) Officers were dispatched to a Burglary Alarm call at a residence in the 500 block of Marguerita Ave. Dispatch was also contacted by an individual reporting she observed someone enter the guest house of...
15: A police pursuit appears to have taken place on Pico Blvd in Santa Monica, east of Virginia Park. A number of police units with flashing lights and sirens pursued a vehicle engaged in street racing, at 9:40 pm PST. "There is a very loud sports car speeding up and down the streets near Grant Elementary School (Pearl and 27th) tonight at 9:30 pm. Gunning the engine in a very obnoxious way, waking up the dogs etc. They went up and down 26th Street several times." reads...
Courts & Rulings Barring registered sex offenders from juries passes constitutional muster, C.A. declares The First District Court of Appeal has upheld the constitutionality of a statutory bar on registered sex offenders serving on juries. "[T]he statutory disparity at issue withstands rational basis scrutiny and there is no denial of equal protection," Justice Douglas P. Miller of Div. Two said in an opinion filed Wednesday. He noted that Art. VII, §8 of the California...
Courts & Rulings Challenge to alleged corruption-tinged decisions untimely The Court of Appeal for this district held yesterday that even if projects approved by the City of Los Angeles were tainted by the corruption of former Council members Mitchell Englander and Jose Huizar, it's too late to bring a suit to block the affected real estate developments from going forward. Both of the discredited former city lawmakers were members of the Planning and Land Use Management...
Venice resident Marcia Davalos says she returned home Wednesday to find a strange man wrapped in a towel inside. "He said that it was his place," she told CBS News. "The minute I walked in I was like 'What are you doing here and he was like I live here and I was like no you don't. You don't live here.'" The suspect seemed to be armed with a knife and sword in a video that Davalos sent to police. The weapons instigated a massive response from LAPD, with a SWAT team, air...
California Supreme Court tosses gang murder conspiracy case: The California Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the conspiracy-to-murder conviction of a gang member who used social media to applaud the killing of rivals during a San Diego gang war. "Being a cheerleader" isn't enough to show that Nicholas Hoskins conspired in the murders, the court said in an unusual and unanimous opinion. The court overturned Hoskins' sentence of 25 years to life and sent the case back to the...
December 7, 2022 – On December 6, 2022, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office filed 2 counts of Robbery against Kelly Blake Carr, a 47-year-old homeless male. On December 3, 2022,at about 4:30 PM, Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) Officers responded to an armed robbery at 1319 Santa Monica Blvd (Adult Love Boutique). The employee indicated the suspect was armed with a handgun and stole US Currency before he fled. SMPD Officers arrived in less than two minutes and n...
Update: Due to this incident, SMMUSD's Edison Elementary School was locked down for two hours Tuesday afternoon. Students were being reunited with parents on Stewart Street and Kansas Avenue. 11.29.22: There has been an officer involved shooting near Virginia Park in Santa Monica. The incident occurred in the 2500 block of Kansas Avenue. A police officer was fired at one or 2 times by a resident "who was having a mental crisis." From the public information officer, SMPD:...
A vehicle went over the bluffs on Ocean Ave and Montana in Santa Monica Saturday morning at about 25 minutes after midnight. The accident occurred after the vehicle failed to turn left or right on Ocean Avenue, and drove straight through Palisades Park. The car landed on a flat surface on the bluffs with 10 feet of clearance from falling down onto PCH. Two patients were transported ALS to Westwood (UCLA). The accident damaged a traffic signal. Live electrical wires were...
High flying melodramas are the types of events that really holds our attention. We soaked up the Versace series, then the Getty series, the House of Gucci movie, and recently fans have been absorbed in Curse of the Chippendales. All of these stories had phenonmenal rises to fame, to end so tragically. The worse ending of all these types of tales has to be the Chippendales story. Steve Banerjee, an immigrant from Mumbai, arrived on the shores of California, to get slave wages...
14: A stabbing reportedly occurred Thursday evening at about 9:40 PM on Santa Monica's Ocean Front Walk and Bicknell. A suspect is in police custody. “He encountered a male on a bicycle and stabbed him for no apparent reason,” wrote the SMPD. Two victims were transported to UCLA Medical Center. There were reportedly other people treated on scene, indicating that their injuries were less serious. SMPD Public Information Officer Rudy Flores issued the following press rel...
13: A pursuit that originated out of Los Angeles passed through the Santa Monica area Wednesday evening. The suspect who was wanted for theft eventually got off on Lincoln BLVD from the westbound 10 where an LAPD officer collided with a vehicle. A secondary collision occurred a short time later with another LAPD cruiser. Both officers in those cruisers were injured and transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The pursuit proceeded down...
7: Police pursuits happen almost every day in LA County (OJ's Bronco being the most famous). Tonight, one ended on Ocean Avenue near the Santa Monica Pier, which is unusual. Here's the police press release, from Lt. Rudy Flores, Public Information Officer for the SMPD: The Santa Monica police department responded to a reported call of a man who aimed a gun at a driver in a black Mercedes. When officers arrived to the area of the Santa Monica Pier (Colorado and Ocean),...
November 2, 2022 - The Santa Monica Police Department reports that two homeless men have been arrested in connection with a shooting on October 29 at the 7-11 located on the corner of Lincoln Boulevard and Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica. The 7-11 is a block away from Santa Monica High School. On Saturday night, October 29 around 9:35 pm, police responded to a report of shots fired at the convenience store. They found the glass door and an adjacent glass window shattered. Two...
A shooting Sunday night at the intersection of Wilshire Blvd and 26th Street in Santa Monica, wounded one man. He suffered a gunshot wound to the arm. This is breaking news; details are lacking at this time. The shooting occurred near the Union 76 Gasoline station. The Los Angeles Police Department later got a call for a shooting and Wilshire and Bundy, less than half a mile away. This indicates that it may have been a car to car shooting, since the location of the shooting...
1/26/22: A homeless man with a knife barricaded himself after threatening customers and staff at the T-Mobile store on the Third Street Promenade. The following description of the incident from an anonymous source: "A man came in and shortly after the cops showed up which is when the man pulled a fishing size knife out. The cops pulled their guns out and Customers and employees evacuated for a couple hours while negotiations took place between the suspect and the police",...
13: Santa Monica Police arrested a homeless man for brandishing a knife Saturday afternoon, in the parking lot behind the US Post Office known as Will Rogers Station. According to witnesses, the unidentified suspect threw the knife into the bushes, and several police officers were seen searching for it. Our cameraman captured the incident. It was not immediately clear who the homeless man was, or whether he would be charged with any offense. Los Angeles County is in the...
A suspect was arrested this week in connection with a series of sexual assaults targeting female Santa Monica College students, school authorities announced. In a statement Monday afternoon, Santa Monica College Chief of Police Johnnie Adams said: "Christopher Noah Griddine II, age 27, was taken into custody around 8:20 a.m. on a probable cause arrest warrant for felony sexual assault." The arrest was made on the SMC campus by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department with...
In June, Scott Berkett, 25, pleaded guilty to a single count of using interstate facilities to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years. However, prosecutors agreed to seek a penalty of no more than five years, according to the plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court. Federal prosecutors said Berkett met the victim online, and she flew to Los Angeles to meet him in late October 2020. Identified in court papers by the initials R.E.,...
Geneva Castro, the sister of Karina Castro who was beheaded by ex-boyfriend Jose Rafael Solano Landaeta on Thursday, has launched a go fund me account in her memory. The goal is to raise $25,000 for her children. The account reads: "27 year old Karina Castro was tragically beheaded on Thursday, September 8th, 2022. Her family is broken hearted by her gruesome murder. She leaves behind two beautiful daughters ages 1 and 7. Please donate. No amount is too small."...
Los Angeles District Attorney Los Angeles deputy DA: Gascón is creating a 'ticking time bomb' by releasing murderers back on the streets A Los Angeles County deputy district attorney says that George Gascón's "blanket policy" of releasing inmates who were convicted of crimes such as murder as a juvenile is creating a "ticking time bomb," and says his "days are still numbered" after the recall campaign suffered a major blow on Monday. Los Angeles District Attorney George G...